The Quiet

The Hogwarts Express was on its way to Hogwarts for another year of education and teenage drama. It was filled with anxious first years, chattering second years, sleeping third years, excited fourth years, happy fifth years, secretive six years, and bored seventh years. But in one compartment, on the very back on the train, a blonde-haired boy sat among his peers, most of whom looked up to him.

With rapt attention, they listened as he spoke. Well, most of them were. Juliette Attalla was lost in her thoughts as she sat in her boyfriend’s, Owen Urquhart, lap.

“He’s entrusted me with a very important mission.” The blonde-haired boy boasted as he held out his left forearm.

Juliette’s eyes moved slowly to the arrogant boy. She silently took in the Dark Mark brandished upon the boy’s arm. His other arm was lazily lying across Pansy’s shoulders. With a yawn, Juliette closed her eyes and leaned back against Owen’s shoulder.

“Boring you, Attalla?” Her eyes opened again and found the grey-eyed boy staring back at her.

“A little.” She replied quietly, her voice barely heard even against the quiet of the compartment.

“Does the Dark Mark not interest you?” He sneered. “Does the Dark Lord’s work not grab your attention and ensnare your interest?”

She appraised him for a moment, knowing he was only badgering her so that he could have more attention. Juliette would not deem to give it to him.

“I think it scares you,” Juliette replied in the same quiet tone. She felt Owen stiffened beneath her. The silence following her comment seemed to tighten and constrict around each one of them. The pale boy was frozen in his spot as he met the gaze of the girl. The others nervously shifted their glances from one to another. Juliette, however, gazed unfailingly at the boy.

“Of course not.” It seemed as if everyone let out a sigh of relief. But the girl did not believe him. He was transparent. His words, his actions, his boasting, and his smirk – she saw through his façade. He was scared.

- x -

As their peers filled out of the compartment, Juliette stood next to Malfoy.
“If you need to talk about...” She offered quietly.
The boy refused, saying he could handle it all on his own, just as she knew he would.

“I know you don’t need help, Malfoy. I’m saying if you need a friend…one that isn’t preoccupied with stuffing their faces or with stroking your hair.” The boy only watched her with his unrelenting gaze.

“Attalla,” he said finally, “I don’t need a friend.”

“One day, you might want one.” She replied quietly as she brushed passed him, leaving the boy staring at the retreating figure of the dark-hair beauty.

Draco seemed to deteriorate day after day. During just that first month of the school year, the dark circles underneath his eyes seemed to grow darker and darker. The boy, even though it didn’t seem possible, grew paler still. More than once, Juliette saw Draco leaving the library, a place he was rarely seen before.

She knew he wasn’t doing his homework and wasn’t even attending all of his classes. Even more troubling, Draco had given up his place on the Quidditch team. Juliette, along with everyone else, knew how much Draco’s father had paid for him to be on the team. Juliette worried that the boy would disappear before their very eyes. She knew that the Dark Lord must’ve given him an important mission as Draco seemed to think of little else. Juliette only hoped that the boy would make it out of the mess he found himself in alive.

Juliette had made her offer to him that day on the train. It was up to him to come to her if he wanted to talk. Honestly, Juliette didn’t think he would. That was okay, if that’s what he wanted. Juliette had known Draco for five years. She knew that he would need someone this year. However, the way Draco Malfoy eventually came to need her was never what she expected.

- x -

It started in October. Juliette was found on that particular day among her Slytherin friends with Owen sitting next to her and Draco across from her in an armchair.

“Have you heard about that Gryffindor, Katie Bell?” Someone asked the group.
Juliette focused on the conversation but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco stiffen.

“No, what happened?”

“She got cursed. Someone gave her a cursed necklace or something in Hogsmeade. She’s at St. Mungos.” Juliette held her tongue as the other Slytherins soon forgot about their cursed peer and conversed about trivial matters instead.

Juliette’s eyes fell upon Draco. He was not paying attention to the others as they spoke. Instead he sat in the black armchair with his arms crossed in front of him as he stared off into space. She stared as his head suddenly snapped in her direction and her eyes met his.

She couldn’t bear to look away and only broke the gaze when Owen kissed her cheek. Turning away from the pale boy, she knew his eyes were still on her.

Soon, their peers filtered up to their dormitories for the night.

Draco and Juliette sat in silence. Finally Juliette, though she was partial to silence herself, couldn’t take the quiet that filled the room and moved to go upstairs.

“Attalla.” She turned at the sound of her name.
“Malfoy?” She asked.

“Do you…” the boy paused for a moment. “Do you remember on the train, what you said?”

“Yes. The offer still stands.” She replied.

Draco pursued his lips and nodded in silence.
“Come on.” Draco said abruptly as he stood up.

“What? What are you talking about Draco?”

“Come on.” He repeated, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the common room.

“Draco!” She hissed as she stumbled over her feet while he dragged her down a corridor.

“Shh.” He called back quietly to her.

“Where are we going?” She replied quietly, to appease him.

“Look,” he said, stopping in front of Snape’s office. “You said you’d…be here for me, right?” She nodded nonplussed. “Then this will help me.” He opened the door and walked in, pulling her in after him.

Snape looked up at them from his desk as they entered. “Malfoy, Attalla. What are you doing out of bed?”
“You made an Unbreakable Vow with my mother to help me.” Draco said interrupting the professor.

“Draco!” Snape hissed as he stood up, his robes flying out around him. “Hold your tongue, Draco.” Snape said, eyeing the student beside the boy he promised to protect.

“Do an Unbreakable Vow on me and Jewels.”

“What?” Juliette and Snape questioned together.

“Draco-” Juliette attempted to protest. An Unbreakable Vow was serious.

“Look, you can’t help me if you don’t know what’s going on and you can’t know if you don’t swear to not tell anyone.”

“Draco, no.” Juliette insisted, pulling her arm out of his grasp. “I can’t.”

“You said you’d be there for me.”
“If you wanted to talk.” She muttered, “Not…not to sign my life away to help you.”

“Look, its just…I can’t tell you anything. He made it clear I wasn’t to tell anyone. But I need to talk to someone. I need to talk to you. But I need you to swear that you won’t tell anyone.”

“Draco…” she said hesitantly, in a pitying tone, one that is more than likely to be followed by an answer in the negative.

“Juliette.” Draco said quietly, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I need you to do this for me.” The boy stared into her eyes and he would not look away.

“Fine.” She agreed quietly.

“Malfoy, I will not-”

“I’m not asking, Professor. You made a vow to help me. This is the only way I want you to help.”

Knowing that he had no other choice, Snape pulled out his wand from the folds of his robes.

Draco clasped Juliette’s wrist tightly and she did the same.
Snape pressed the tip of his wand to their clasped hands.

“Will you never tell anyone of my mission, in any form?”

“I will.”

A rope of fire flew from Snape’s wand and wrapped itself around their hands.

“Will you help me in whatever way you can, with getting directly involved?”

“I will.”

Another rope of fire wrapped around their hands.

“Will you listen?”

“I will.”

A third, and final, rope of fire flew from Snape’s hand and wrapped itself around the pair’s hands. Moments later, the ropes disappeared and the trio stood in silence.

“Come on,” Draco said to her again. He walked to the door and held it open for her as they left Snape’s office.

- x -

It was not until two days after they made an Unbreakable Vow that the pair actually had time to talk. Both were busy, Juliette with Owen and Draco with Pansy.

They met in the Room of Requirements with Goyle, transmogrified into a little girl, standing watch outside.

Juliette stood among the various piles of junk that filled the room. She waited for Draco to speak.

“I have to kill Dumbledore.”
With wide eyes, Juliette observed him.

“Well?” Draco asked in aggravation. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

“How?”

“That’s all you have to ask? ‘How?’ God, Attalla, with how quiet you are, I was never sure you should be in Slytherin but now-”

“Shut up,” she said with a roll of her eyes. A smirk flitted across his face. “Look, I know you can’t get out of this. This is the Dark Lord. He’s not going to let you fail. You have to do this. And I promised to listen and to help. So…how are you going to do it?”

“Well…there’s this thing called a Vanishing Cabinet…one of them is in Borgin and Burkes and the other in here. Once I fix it, the-”

“The Death Eaters can get into Hogwarts, despite the protections around the school.”

Draco nodded.

“What happened to Katie?”

“I put Rosmerta under the Imperius and she put Katie under the Imperius and told her to give the necklace to Dumbledore.”

“Why?”

“It was an alternative.”

“It was a way out.” She affronted. “You didn’t want to have to kill him. You were worried you couldn’t-”

“Yes. Fine, alright? I…I tried another option and it didn’t work out. So now I have to get this to work.”

The pair lapsed into silence after their exchange. Draco was tinkering with the Vanishing Cabinet while she walked quietly around the room.

“You think you can do it?” She asked. Even in the quiet, he could only just hear her.

“Of course,” he touted a confidence he did not exemplify with his use of the cursed necklace. “I can fix this-”

“No,” she interrupted. “I mean can you do it? Can you kill him?”

“Of course,” he replied, but he was unable to hide the tremor in his voice.

“I think you’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid anything.”

“Fear isn’t a weakness. It just means you’re human.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.”

“I think you like power-”

“Shut up.”

“You like the power he has-”

“Shut up!” He stood forcefully and stalked over to her.

The words flew out of her mouth faster as he neared closer, “But now that you know how he is, you don’t want to do this.”

“Shut up!” Draco put his hands on her shoulders and propelled them both toward the nearest wall. Her back hit the wall and she only looked up at him with an emotionless face. “Shut up.” He whispered as his hand betrayed his internal commands and moved slowly to brush a strand of hair out of her hazel eyes.

He couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t gain control. He wanted her to shut up, to be as taciturn as she always was but another part of him wished for her to never hush. A part of him longed to hear the voice that she held within herself and only truly revealed to Owen.

Oblivious to the internal struggle of the boy before her, she slipped out of his grasp and went to walk around the Room of Requirements yet again.

Walking back to the malfunctioning Vanishing Cabinet, Draco’s mind would not rest. Juliette Attala was not like any other girl he knew. She was definitely not like Pansy; some days he thought that was a good thing. But she didn’t gravitate toward him, like any other girl would. She seemed to be indifferent to him. Without even knowing she was doing it, Juliette had captured his attention and had not relinquished it. He wanted to know why she was so quiet; he wanted to know why she would waste her time on a git like Owen. He didn’t understand why, no matter what he said or did, she didn’t seem to care.

- x -

“Hermione, wait.” The girl called after the quickly moving Gryffindor as she bolted out of their Ancient Ruins.

The brown-haired girl turned and was not surprised to see Juliette before her. Hermione often spoke to the Slytherin during their late nights at the library. She waited as the Slytherin walked over to her.

“How’s Katie?” She asked quietly.

- x -

“Why’d you offer?”

“Offer what?”

“That day on the train, why’d you offer to be there for me?”

“You looked like you needed a friend…you usually do.”

“You’re honest about everything, aren’t you?” He asked, turning his attention away from the cabinet.

“Why lie?” She asked in return.

“Doesn’t seem very Slytherin-esque.”

“It can be.”

“Asking Granger about Bell isn’t very Slytherin-like either.”

Juliette turned to look at him slowly. “How’d you know about that?”

Draco shrugged, not daring to look at her. “I saw you.”

“Not all Slytherins are cold-hearted, Draco. Are you really that severe on your own House?”

“Why care about anyone? They always want something.” He replied softly as he toyed with his wand.

“Not everyone. I don’t want anything.”

“How can you not want anything? There must be something you can get from this!” He yelled, throwing his arms out from himself as he gestured around the room. “Why are you here?”

“I think you need a friend. And I think you know you do.”

- x -

“I don’t know if I can do this.” He said in frustration.

“Yes you can.”

“No, I can’t. I have to. There is a difference. I cannot do this. I cannot kill him.”

“Draco-”

“Jewels…I can’t.”

“God, Draco. What happened to Draco Malfoy! You walk around these halls as if you own the place! Where’s that confidence now? You trade on your name, Malfoy, are you telling me there’s nothing behind that cold exterior?” Draco looked up at her in surprise. It was the loudest he’d ever heard her speak.

“Maybe I don’t want to be Draco Malfoy! Maybe I just want to be Draco! I don’t…I don’t want to do this. I don’t think I can do this-”

“Draco!” She yelled as she stalked over toward him and grabbed his face in between her hands. “Draco,” she said, reverting to the soft tone he always associated with her. “You have to do this. You can do this.” She encouraged him, not because she wanted Dumbledore to die or because she wanted the Dark Lord to rule. She encouraged him because she knew that he had to do this. He had to succeed or die. Juliette would not let him give up.

- x -

The days passed quickly as Juliette and Draco spent more of their nights together. Nothing changed during the school day. They barely spoke to each other; Juliette still barely spoke to anyone.

October turned to November and November turned to December.

Draco yelled in frustration and knocked a book off of a nearby shelf. It made a loud sound upon impact. Juliette only watched him pace with his hazel eyes.

She walked to the Vanishing Cabinet and observed it for a moment.

“Maybe if you-” His hand shot out to snatch hers away from the cabinet.

“Don’t.” He snapped coldly.

“I was just trying to help.” She huffed in defense of herself. Juliette tried to pull her hand out of Draco’s grip but he wouldn’t let her hand go.

“I…I know.” The boy stuttered as he met her eyes. The fact that he stuttered or faltered in any way astounded her. “You can’t help me.”

“Then why do you want me here-”

Ignoring the question, he replied, “You can’t help with fixing this. Because I can do this…if I can kill him, they’ll find out you knew about this. You’ll have the vow as an alibi for why you couldn’t tell anyone…but if you actually help me…you’ll never be able to stop running.”

“But why,” she persisted, “am I here?”
“Because you offered.” He shrugged, attempting to appear nonchalant.

“Bull. Why am I here Draco? Of anyone you could’ve trusted…why am I here? And I know it’s no just because I offered. That’s just an excuse.”

“I don’t know why.” he replied as he laced his fingers with hers. “There’s just…something about you.”

“What are you…” She trailed off as she met his eyes.

He stepped closer to her, his breath pressing upon her cheek. Gently, he twirled as piece of her dark brown hair between the long, slender fingers of his free hand.

“Juliette…” he whispered as he leaned in closer. Draco kissed her, holding her close. When the kiss ended and he pulled away slowly, he was met with her wide eyes.

“Draco…I-I…Owen.” She whispered. “I have Owen.” Draco stepped closer, in an attempt to hold her, but she pushed him away and took off running out of the room.

“Juliette!” He called, but he didn’t run after her.

- x -

She meandered through the crowd at the Slug Club party. She was trying to avoid Slughorn, hoping to avoid being introduced to anyone. She was also trying to avoid her thoughts of the pale boy that she spent most of her time with. He had kissed her. She didn’t understand why. Juliette thought they were friends; that was it. She thought that was how he wanted it.

They had not spoken since that night two weeks ago. Her eyes involuntarily wondered over toward him; she was a silent observer of his slowing decaying health. When he thought no one could see him, she saw how broken he looked. She wanted to help, but couldn’t. Not since the incident.

She hadn’t the courage to stay in the room that night and she hadn’t the courage to tell Owen what occurred. She had no intentions of a repeat of the event.

Owen, the lovely boyfriend that he was, had not been able to come to the party that night. He was busy hanging out with his friends, despite the fact that he had promised that he would join her there. Taking a sip of her butterbeer, she tried to content herself with the fact that she’d have to suffer through the evening alone.

The party was soon interrupted by the appearance of Filch dragging a student into the room.

“Professor, I found him sulking about in the hallways. Said he was part of your party.” Filch said as he held Draco tightly by the arm.
Slughorn opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

“He’s my date, actually. He’s a little late, obviously.” Everyone turned to look at her but she did not tear her gaze away from Slughorn.

“Very well, very well.” Slughorn said, motioning to Filch to let Draco go.

Draco walked over to Juliette, who was doing her best to avoid looking at him.

“Thanks.” He muttered as he straightened his clothes and wiped invisible dirt off then.

“No problem. I’m here to help after all.” She muttered sarcastically.

They barely spoke for the rest of the night. Juliette was searching desperately for the words to say but they were elusive. She could not find the words to say to express how she left about what had happened between them. She wasn’t sure she wanted.

While Juliette battled inside her mind, Draco was merely happy watching her throughout the evening.
- x -

Somehow, despite her frustration and confusion at his actions, she found herself in the Room of Requirements the next night.

She could blame the Vow for her presence there. She could blame her want of helping him. But she knew that the real reason she was there was the boy.

Draco stopped short as soon as he entered the Room of Requirements. He had not expected her to be there.

“Hey.” He said in surprise.
“Hi.” She nodded. Draco, unsure of what to do, went to the Vanish Cabinet and began to work.

“So if I can’t help,” He stopped at the sound of her voice, “What can I do?”

“Just…talk.” He muttered as he began to work on the Vanishing Cabinet again.

“Talk? Why?”

“Because you don’t talk.”

She smiled slightly at that. “I talk.”

“To Urquhart.” He rolled his eyes, and even though Juliette didn’t see him do it, she knew he did by the tone of his voice.

“I don’t talk to Owen much.”

Draco balked. “I don’t need to know about your physical relationship with Urquhart.”
She giggled. And it was such a glorious sound that Draco wanted nothing more than to make her laugh every day.

“I didn’t mean that the time we don’t spend talking is spent on…various physical pursuits. We’re just…quiet.” She muttered. “Merlin, I hate how quiet we are.”

Draco burst out laughing; Juliette found herself smiling in spite of herself. She liked the sound of his laugh.

“You…the quietest girl I’ve ever met in my life…you don’t like the silence?”

“Not this kind of silence.” She shrugged. He sobered quickly as he noticed the opportunity for her to open up to him.

“What do you mean?”

“Its just awkward between me and him. Especially now that I barely see him.” Draco knew he was the cause of that. But hell would freeze over before he apologized for that. “But things were strained even when I saw him. There’s just no…no spark. I don’t want to see him every moment of every day. Not like I do with-”

He was before her in an instant, hanging on her words.

“With who?”
“No one.”
“Who were you talking about?” He insisted.

“No one.”
“Liar-”

They were pulled from their concentration as movement above their heads captured their attention.

Mistletoe was now hanging over them.

“The room magically brings what you need into the room.” He whispered. “And I wasn’t the one wishing for mistletoe.”

“You know…” She murmured. “Its bad luck to not kiss under mistletoe.”

“Oh, really?” He smirked as he leaned in and captured her lips.

- x -

“I hate that he calls me, Julie.” She disclosed as they found themselves in the Room of Requirements one night. “And I hate that he ditches me to hang out with the Quidditch team.”

Draco watched as she paced across the room.

“I can’t stand him sometimes. And I swear, it’s like he doesn’t know me at all!”

“Then break up with him.”

She ignored him. “And it’s just so awkward to be around him.”

“Then break up with him.” Draco repeated as he strode over to where she was and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Draco,” she murmured as she shrugged off his embrace. “Be serious.”

“I am.” He replied in a huff. “Why bother staying with him? You don’t love him!”

“Draco-”
“If you did, you certainly wouldn’t have kissed me!”

“I swear Draco, sometimes you’re so absolutely difficult-”

“Break up with him!”
“I don’t want to!”

“Why?”

“What am I breaking up with him for? Some boy who…who I can’t rely on to be there if I need him? Draco, you have a mission…if you fail, he’ll kill you. If you go through with it, you’ll have to run…you can’t…you won’t be around. Owen will be.”

“So that’s it. That’s why…that’s all you have to say.”

“That’s it.”

“Fine.”

- x -

It seemed that time flew by when she spent her nights with him. And yet, when they didn’t speak, time crawled by.

It was March and it was all over the school.
Ron Weasley was in the Hospital Wing because he had almost died. He drank poisoned mead that was to be given as a gift to Dumbledore.

“Why’d you do it?” She had found him in the Room of Requirements.

Draco refused to answer as he stared at the Vanishing Cabinet.

“You could’ve killed him.”

“That’s the point, isn’t it? I’m supposed to kill-”

“Because you have to-”

“Do you really want me to do this? Well? Tell me, Juliette! Why are you encouraging me to do this?”

“I am encouraging you because I know he’ll kill you if you don’t. I don’t want you to die, Draco.”

“Why do you care? Wouldn’t it make everything so much easier for you? You won’t have to deal with me. You could just be so happy and perfect with Urquhart!”

“You’re such an arse, Malfoy, I swear to God.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Why do you push everyone away? You came to me for help and now you’re afraid and now you’re pushing me away!”

“I’m not pushing you away! Why would I push you away? You’re nothing to me and I’m nothing to you. That’s why you won’t break up with Urquhart.”

“God, Draco!”

“No! You don’t get to be annoyed over this. You chose him. I hope you’re happy in your silent relationship!” With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

- x -

He was in the Hospital Wing; she had to find that out from Pansy.

“What happened?” She demanded as soon as Madam Pompfrey was out of ear shot.

“Nothing, Attala.”

“Get over your damn pride, Malfoy. What happened?”

“Nothing for you to concern yourself with. Shouldn’t you be with Urquhart?”

Glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster, she snapped, “Fine.” She turned on her heel, leaving him staring after her.

He wanted her to understand. He wanted to tell her, he wanted to explain how desperately he wanted her. He wanted to tell her so many things but he never could seem to find the words.

Eventually, she found out that Harry Potter and Draco had dueled, ending with Draco having deep wounds. If Snape hadn’t discovered them, Draco would’ve died. The thought haunted her. That he could die without her ever telling him how much she cared astounded her. But it was not enough to make her swallow her pride and her hurt feelings to talk with him.

- x -

March bleed to April and April to May.

Someone clambered into the common room. It was three in the morning; Juliette could be found sitting on a couch in the common room. She didn’t bother to look up at who had entered.

“I did it.”

She knew the voice and raised her eyes, reluctantly, to his face.

“What?”

“I did it.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I finished. I fixed it. Come on!” He said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her all the way to the Room of Requirements.

They sat on the floor in front of the Vanishing Cabinet.
“You did it.” She murmured.
“Yeah.” He agreed quietly.

“What are you going to do?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When this is over…what are you going to do? You’ve fixed the cabinet. They can get into Hogwarts. If you kill him…you can’t very well stay at Hogwarts, Draco. Have you thought about what you’re going to do…after?”

“No.”

“Draco, honestly-”

“I have thought about it!” He insisted. “I just…I’m not sure.”

“Have you figured out anything? This is your future Draco.”

“I’ve though about…this and this year and what’s happened. I’ve thought about you. And I- Juliette, I want you to come with me.”

“What? Are you crazy what about Owen?”

“What about him? They’ll know that you knew what I was doing. You have to come with me.”

“Draco…I can’t. Owen-”

“Why are you still with him?”
“We’re good together, him and I. Draco I’ve told you before-”
“No. You told me that he cares about you, that he loves you. But what about you how do you feel about him?”

“Draco, please-”
“Just say you’ll come with me. That’s all I want.”
“I can’t give you what you want.”

- x -

The night arrived. Draco had told her that morning. They hadn’t spoken in weeks. Not since their fight in the Room of Requirements. The boy barely looked at her as he requested that she stay in Forbidden Forest as the fighting went on, so she wouldn’t be in the way. Really, he was just requesting this of her so she wouldn’t get hurt. Juliette knew this.

He was pale when he spoke to her. She wasn’t sure he could do this. She wanted more than anything that he didn’t have to. She didn’t want him to be a murderer.

Now she watched anxiously, she could hear the shouts from inside the castle and could see the green and red lights lighting up the windows of the castle.

And then she saw it. She saw the body fall from the battlements. She looked away but she heard the crunch as the body hit. He had done it.

Not even two minutes later, the doors of the castle flew open.

She moved away from the forest, toward the people running away. She could see the greasy hair of Professor Snape as he pushed Draco, making him run. Another person emerged from the doors a moment later. It was Harry Potter.

She couldn’t make out what they were each yelling but as they got closer, she could see Draco scanning for the forest line.

“Draco!” She called out. He stopped short as his eyes landed on her.

Snape shoved his head down as a green light burst forth from Harry’s wand.

“Juliette!” He called in return as he broke away from Snape and ran towards her.

Snape and Harry began to duel as Draco reached her.

“Did you…”

“Snape did.” He replied. “But I…I have to go. You have to choose Juliette.” He stared her down with those brilliant grey eyes. “Urquhart…he’s of no consequence. You must know how I…how I feel about you-”

“Draco! Go!” Snape yelled from where he was with Harry.

“Jewels,” he said holding out a hand to her. “Come with me.”

“Draco-”
“What’s stopping you?”
“I’m afraid.”
“You’re the one who said fear makes you human.”

“This is different. You barely know me-”
“I know more than Owen does and you think that he loves you-”
“So? It’s not like you love me.”

“Jewels-”
“No. You don’t know me. We’ve barely even spoken in the last six years-”

“And we won’t have a chance to if you don’t come with me.”
“Draco, please-”

“Juliette…that spark that you don’t have with Urquhart, you know you’ve felt it with me. And I know you don’t want let that go. Come with me.” He repeated, holding out his hand.

And she did.

She left behind her quiet boyfriend…now ex-boyfriend in the halls where she found the boy she knew she could fall for. She left and she didn’t regret it.